for them what I had made lawful for them, and commanded them to associate with Me that for which I had sent down no authority.”

For this reason, according to the well-known view reported from him, Imam Ahmad, may Allah be pleased with him, held that whenever either of a child’s two unbelieving parents dies, the child is legally deemed a Muslim, since the cause of departure from the original innate disposition has ceased to exist.

It has also been related from him, from Ibn al-Mubārak, and from both of them that they said:

“He is born according to the wretchedness or blessedness upon which he was created.”

This statement does not contradict the first view. A child is born free from defect, although Allah already knows that he will disbelieve. He must therefore ultimately reach the outcome already recorded for him in the Mother of the Book, just as an animal is born physically intact, although Allah already knows that it will be mutilated.

This is the meaning of the report in Sahīh Muslim from Ibn ‘Abbās, may Allah be pleased with them both, who said:

“The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said concerning the boy whom al-Khidr killed: ‘He was inscribed as a disbeliever when his fate was inscribed; had he been left alive, he would have overwhelmed his parents with transgression and disbelief.’”

That is, Allah inscribed him in the Mother of the Book: He wrote and recorded him as a disbeliever, meaning that if he lived, he would actually disbelieve. For this reason:

“When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was asked about the children of polytheists who die while still young, he said: ‘Allah knows best what they would have done.’”

That is, Allah knows which of them would believe and which would disbelieve if they reached maturity.

Furthermore, a hadith with a chain of transmission approaching soundness has been narrated from Abū Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who said:

“On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will test them and send them a messenger on the plain of Resurrection. Whoever responds to him, He will admit into Paradise; whoever disobeys him, He will admit into the Fire.”

At that point, what Allah, glorified be He, knew about them will become manifest. He will recompense them for what has become manifest of His knowledge—their belief or disbelief—not merely on the basis of His knowledge.